By Nishant Arora New Delhi, Nov 28, : .India is preparing to introduce the long-awaited Cryptocurrency Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill 2021 in the Winter Session.
It will be introduced on November 29.All eyes will be on what happens to the hard-earned money of Indian investors once the ban on private cryptocurrencies takes effect.
A blanket ban on crypto investment is likely to shake up the entire ecosystem, as there are an estimated 15 to 20 millions crypto investors and no information about the size of India’s crypto market.
The Blockchain and Crypto Assets Council (BACC), which is part of the Internet and Mobile Association of India, claimed that over 6 lakh crores of Indians had invested in crypto assets.
This figure is highly suspect, since no one knows the actual amount of money being routed via cryptocurrency exchanges.
After news broke last week about a ban on all private cryptocurrency in the Crypto Bill 2021, many investors, who are mostly from small-town India and include females, began withdrawing their hard-earned cash from various crypto exchanges.
These ads promised huge profits and flooded them with lucrative offers.
Experts agree that a ban on private cryptocurrency is welcome, but the government must ensure that investors’ money remains safe and trace millions of dollars that were routed via platforms and crypto exchanges that the authorities don’t know about.
According to a media report, the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has uncovered illegal transactions via cryptocurrency exchanges worth more than Rs 4,000 crore in the last year, reported Saturday.
“The crypto craze has reached Tier 2/3 towns, and non-regulation of this Rs 6 lakh crore market is raising questions about the sovereign authority of India.
Virag Gupta, a cyberlaw expert based in New Delhi, said that the non-imposition and levy of GST at various levels of transactions and income tax with penalty are already causing enormous losses to the state’s revenues.
Jiten Jain (Director, Voyager Infosec) is a leading cybersecurity expert.
He believes that crypto as a currency should not be allowed because issuing a currency is a sovereign right of a central state.Crypto can be held by people as a commodity, and the government should tax and regulate them.
There are grave concerns about the misuse of digital currencies on the Dark Web to fund terror acts and drug trafficking by militant organizations, as well as for money laundering and hawala transactions.This poses a serious threat and challenge to India’s security agencies.
Subhash Chandra Garg (ex-Finance Secretary of India) claims that the cryptocurrency exchanges that have sprung up recently have deep business interests.Making money is clearly the primary motivation.
“These exchanges operate outside the scope of the law and are desperate for legitimacy.Garg told IANS that if investors lose their hard-earned cash, the government will be in a difficult position to answer them after the ban on private cryptocurrency.
Top Swedish financial and environmental authorities are calling for a ban on cryptocurrency mining in the European Union.They claim that crypto assets are used for criminal purposes such as money laundering and ransomware payments.
(Nishant Arora can reached at [email protected]
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